Chukwalla – July 2026
Have you ever wondered what a couple bands from Austin, TX and Montreal, Quebec would sound like if you smashed them together? Chukwalla might be the best chance you’ll ever get to experience such a phenomenon. The six (!) piece band booked some time in a Montreal studio this past July and ripped through three jams. The resulting release is titled, simply, July 2026, and finds the band exploding with energy while simultaneously exploring unfamiliar ground.
With minimal time for the band to learn each song and an unfamiliar studio setting (that, to be fair, had some super fancy gear), the band blasted through these songs while literally still in a state of discovering them. Minimal overdubs were recorded, so what you’re hearing on July 2026 is a band in flux, making decisions on the fly and navigating the exciting energies of jamming on something for the first few times. That energy can be felt all across July 2026, starting with the opening track, “Song 5.” This isn’t a “single” in the stereotypical sense of the word, or what you’d normally expect to open up a three-song EP… Instead, “Song 5” is a sprawling, near-eight-minute opus that finds Chukwalla on an excursion through the extremes of indie rock… Starting out with a weirdo discordant riff and blasting into big, explosive chorus-like parts. Prepare yourself for wah-soaked guitars accompanied by chest-thudding drums. Mid-song, the band cools off into a heady, bass-led groove, which slowly tapers off across the next three-ish minutes. “Song 5” is an experience for sure, and feels like Chukwalla at their most distilled – even if it is a tried-and-true jam.
While “Song 5” almost crested the eight minute mark, song two, “No Way Out,” literally does. Almost contrarian to “Song 5’s” bluesy grind, “No Way Out” feels like Pink Floyd-meets-90s-Radiohead in nature – a mind-expanding LSD-trip layered thick with weird noises, but rooted by rock-solid acoustic guitar, sweeping cello, and project mastermind Justin Wiggins’ chest-voiced growl. “No Way Out,” too, leaves plenty of room for improvisation – mid-song it cools off into a stunning, jazzy piano solo… But minutes later the song is almost unrecognizable, evolving/devolving into a freak-out wall of noise. This song is space-y in every sense of the word, and everything from the seven minute mark forward sounds like you’re being compressed by a black hole. Cool.
Just when you think July 2026 is going to be a 24-minute, three-song EP, they hit you with EP closer “Something Sharper.” Sounding a bit closer to the desert mesas of Texas than the snowy metropolis of Montreal (side note… Does Texas have mesas?), it’s an acoustic-forward drawl that sounds like it should be playing in a spooky saloon. Again, the band explores the limits of rock ‘n roll, with plenty of ear-bending chord changes, and another inspired vocal performance from Wiggins. It’s a nice indication that proggy, forward-thinking rock still has a place in our world, and as we continue on into 2027, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more from Wiggins and the Chukwalla crew.
Check out July 2026 via the bandcamp link below.
Categorised in: Album Reviews
This post was written by Nick Sessanna